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Obama tells debate audience he regrets Schiavo vote
by Staff
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
Updated Feb. 28
CLEVELAND (BP)--Democratic presidential candidate and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama said during a debate Feb. 26 that he regrets his 2005 vote allowing Congress to get involved in the case involving Terri Schiavo, the severely disabled woman from Florida who died of starvation and dehydration after her feeding tube was pulled.
Obama made the comments during a Democratic debate with Hillary Clinton. Both were asked if there were any words or votes they'd "like to take back." Clinton cited her vote authorizing the war in Iraq; Obama, his Schiavo vote.
In March 2005, the Senate passed a bill by unanimous consent allowing Schiavo's parents to take their case to federal court seeking to keep their daughter alive; they had exhausted all legal options within the Florida state courts. Although the parents said Schiavo would have wanted to live, Schiavo's husband disagreed, saying his wife previously had told him she would not want to remain in such a condition. Complicating matters was the fact that Schiavo's husband lived with a girlfriend, with whom he had fathered two children. Some people, including Schiavo's parents, said the husband's romantic involvement with another woman served as a conflict of interest. Schiavo had been severely brain-damaged since 1990.
Obama had been in the Senate less than two months when the vote took place.
"It wasn't something I was comfortable with, but it was not something that I stood on the floor and stopped," Obama said during the debate. "And I think that was a mistake, and I think the American people understood that that was a mistake. And as a constitutional law professor, I knew better.... And I think that's an example of inaction, and sometimes that can be as costly as action."
It's not the first time Obama has made such a remark; in an April 2007 debate, Obama made a similar remark about regretting his vote on the Schiavo matter. But this time, Obama's remarks came as the frontrunner.
Schiavo's father, Robert Schindler, criticized Obama's latest remarks.
"Everyone with a disability, or who knows someone with a disability, should be outraged that a potential U.S. president would so callously reject his own action taken in favor of life over death," Schinder said in a statement. "... Highly visible public figures, especially those who may one day speak on behalf of all citizens, should not imply that some citizens are less worthy than others. As President, would Barack Obama stand for all of us or just some of us?"
David N. O'Steen, executive director of National Right to Life, said Obama's remarks "show a callous disregard" for people with disabilities.
"His comments demonstrate a worrisome trend with regard to treating persons with disabilities," O'Steen said in a statement. "By applying a 'quality of life' test, disabled patients across the country are in danger of being denied life-saving care and food and water. There is an assumption being adopted that if a patient is disabled and unable to speak for themselves, they would be 'better off dead.'"
People with "serious illnesses" and "disabilities" should be "fearful" of Obama "ever being in a position to make health care policy for our nation," O'Steen said.
Obama is not alone in his beliefs. Last year, two Republican presidential candidates supported by social conservatives -- Mitt Romney and Fred Thompson -- said they disagreed with Congress' intervention. Romney said Congress' action was a "mistake," while Thompson said it should have been left up to the family. The bill passed when Republicans held both chambers.
During a debate last year, Republican John McCain called the matter a "very, very difficult issue" and seemed himself to have some regrets.
"All of us were deeply moved by the pictures and the depiction of this terrible, tragic case," McCain said. "In retrospect, we should have taken some more time, looked at it more carefully, and probably [we] reacted too hastily."
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Compiled by Michael Foust, an assistant editor of Baptist Press.
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Senate bars abortion funds in Indian bill
by Staff
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
WASHINGTON (BP)--The U.S. Senate voted Feb. 26 to prohibit federal funding for abortion as part of an Indian health care bill.
Senators approved the pro-life amendment 52-42, providing a long-term ban on Indian reservations that had been missing in the legislation for Indian health care. The Senate approved the overall bill, the Indian Health Care Improvement Act, with an 83-10 vote.
"We are very pleased by the passage of the amendment," said Barrett Duke, vice president for public policy of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission. "No person or community benefits from abortion. Abortion kills an unborn child and does great harm in every imaginable way to women. Most American taxpayers do not want to subsidize such destructive activity.
"I hope the American Indian community sees in this restriction our commitment to honor the sanctity of every American Indian life in the same way that we seek to honor the sanctity of life throughout the rest of the United States and the world," Duke said.
The amendment's language allows exceptions in the ban for abortions to save the life of the mother or in cases of pregnancy by rape or incest.
The Senate vote fell largely along party lines, with Republicans dominating on the side of the amendment's passage.
Nine Democrats voted for the amendment sponsored by Sen. David Vitter, R.-La. They are Majority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, Evan Bayh of Indiana, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Bob Casey of Pennsylvania, Tim Johnson of South Dakota, Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Mark Pryor of Arkansas and Ken Salazar of Colorado.
Three Republicans -- Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, both of Maine, and Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania -- voted against the amendment.
The House of Representatives has yet to vote on the health care measure, which revises federal law to improve health care services for Indians.
The Senate-approved amendment is similar to the Hyde amendment, first enacted in 1976. The Hyde amendment, named after the late Rep. Henry Hyde of Illinois, prohibits federal funds for most abortions as part of the spending bill for the Department of Health and Human Services. Unlike the Vitter amendment, the Hyde language has to be approved each year as part of the appropriations bill.
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Compiled by Tom Strode, Washington bureau chief for Baptist Press.
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In Jena, revival overpowers racial tensions
by John L. Yeats
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
JENA, La. (BP)--On Sept. 20 of last year, more than 20,000 people from across the nation gathered in small Jena, La., to protest an outbreak of racial tensions at the local high school, exposing old feelings of racism and hate.
Celebrities such as Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton fueled the media's glare on this small community of foresters and farmers. The only thing people outside LaSalle Parrish knew about Jena was the label of "racist" in the newspapers and on TV.
What could possibly transform this community torn by mistrust and innuendo? A movement of God's Spirit.
On Feb. 17, Midway Baptist Church in Jena began a revival meeting. Of all the churches in the area where something divine might occur, Midway was among the most unlikely. The church did not have a pastor and was in a time of transition after years of decline. Yet Midway's members were willing to follow the leadership of their interim pastor, Bill Robertson, in scheduling a four-day revival.
In preparation for the revival, Robertson, the Louisiana Baptist Convention's pastoral leadership director, and the church engaged in three weeks of special prayer on a personal level and as a body of believers. Extra efforts were exerted for outreach, and publicity was circulated throughout the community through the newspaper, posters and mailers.
The meeting began with Robertson's Sunday morning sermon to the "normal" crowd of about 225 people. Much the same on Sunday evening, with the addition of a few African Americans who were welcomed and came back Monday evening.
After a time of singing prior to Robertson's message each evening, the congregants were encouraged to pray a simple prayer: "Dear Jesus, speak to my heart tonight and I promise to be obedient to whatever You tell me to do."
Something spectacular happened on Monday evening. "There was a sense that the Holy Spirit chose to visit this church," Robertson said. "But at the invitation, no one moved. Few spoke. We had a sense of the awe and wonder of God at work but we were too amazed to do any thing about it."
On Tuesday evening, the crowd grew to more than 300 and reflected a mix of races. A singing group led by Craig Franklin, editor of the local newspaper, the Jena Times, led the congregation in two songs and then stopped.
"I sense there is someone here who needs to testify," Franklin said.
A woman stood and said she knew God's Holy Spirit had called her to come to the altar on Monday night but she hadn't stepped out. She wanted to confess her disobedience and said she would be coming at the invitation time that night to "get right."
Robertson told her to not to wait, that the invitation to come to God is always open. People began to move out of the pews and flooded the altar.
"There were tears, sorrow and repentance," Robertson recounted. "A spirit of brokenness flooded the room as a community leader stepped up to me and said, 'Preacher, I've been living a lie. I joined this church five years ago, but I've never been genuinely saved.' As I began to lead this man to repentance and faith, other adults began coming to the church leaders and asking for prayer and inquiring how they might be saved."
At the end of the service, five adults and two adolescents had surrendered their lives to Christ. There had been too many to count at the altar. "The numbers don't matter," said Roberts, who did not preach during the service that spanned nearly two hours. "God is working and we are participating with Him.... God was working in the church and in the community."
Word of the meeting spread throughout the community and the 400-seat auditorium was filled Wednesday evening. People from several other congregations were there and had brought guests. Again, several adults surrendered their lives to Christ. Although Robertson had prior commitments for Thursday and Friday, the church's deacons invited Franklin to preach on Thursday and the African American pastor of L and A Baptist Church, Jimmy Young, to preach and bring his church's choir on Friday.
Franklin, a longtime resident of LaSalle Parish, said Young was the first African American asked to preach in a predominately Anglo congregation. Again on Friday evening, adults continued coming to Christ during the evening's invitation.
At the conclusion of the Friday evening service, Franklin asked that those with a burden for a lost person come to the altar and cry out to God for that specific person.
On Sunday, Midway Baptist was filled to capacity. The L and A Baptist Church also was filled. They met together on Sunday evening to a standing-room-only crowd and five more adults surrendered their lives to Christ.
On Monday evening six more adults and an adolescent were saved. Franklin reported that some people came to him and shared that the person who was saved was the person they prayed for on Friday.
"It's amazing to watch the work of God during the invitation," Franklin said. "There are people present who don't know why they are there. At invitation time, you can see the power of the Holy Spirit breaking over their lives and they are miserable ... and lost. Yet they keep coming back."
"This is a work of God in the most unlikely place," Robertson said. "Isn't it just like our God to do something extraordinary like this so that no man can share in the glory? Community leaders would have to work for decades to bring peace to this community. Our God desires to bring the peace of Jesus into individual lives and this community now."
Robertson said he believes that if this movement of God were to happen in a major city, it would translate into hundreds if not thousands of adults coming to Christ. "But before the power of God shows up, there must be brokenness," he said.l
Since the meeting began until the following Tuesday evening service, 25 adults from Jena's Anglo and African American communities have turned to Christ and three have surrendered to the call to ministry. Midway Baptist's leaders have extended the revival meeting until Friday, Feb. 29, in an act of obedience to God's Spirit.
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John L. Yeats is director of communications for the Louisiana Baptist Convention and recording secretary of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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SBC president challenges Southern Baptists to help rebuild Union after tornado
by Tim Ellsworth
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--Southern Baptist Convention President Frank Page called for Southern Baptist churches to give generously to Union University as the campus seeks to recover from more than $40 million in damages sustained in a Feb. 5 tornado.
Page issued his challenge Feb. 27 during his first visit to Union since the tornado destroyed about 70 percent of its student housing and caused extensive damage to other buildings. Union University President David S. Dockery took Page on a tour of the Jackson, Tenn., campus during his visit.
"I'm a little bit shell-shocked as I look around," Page said. "It's unbelievable that this kind of devastation could occur, and yet not one single student lost their life. So for that, we give thanks to the Lord."
Page encouraged Southern Baptist churches to take up special offerings in an effort "to step up to the plate and to assist this wonderful university in rebuilding this campus better and bigger than ever before."
Many Southern Baptist churches and entities already have come to Union's assistance. LifeWay Christian Resources gave $350,000. Tennessee Baptist Convention entities have provided $144,000. Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., the Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary each gave $100,000.
In addition, Criswell College and KCBI radio in Dallas donated $53,000, while GuideStone Financial Resources and Faith Baptist Church in Bartlett, Tenn., each provided $50,000. Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, First Baptist Church in Naples, Fla., and the Mid-South Baptist Association in Bartlett gave $25,000 each. Southern Baptist seminaries also have made contributions as well.
And Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Bradford, Tenn., contributed $5,000 to Union -– surpassing 3 percent of the church's budget.
"In God's economy, that's the biggest gift to date," Dockery said of the Mt. Pleasant gift.
But despite the generosity displayed thus far, Page said the needs continue to be great, although insurance will cover much of the damages. Deductibles, lost revenue from student housing and other programs, plus the increased cost of rebuilding campus housing to greater standards, will leave Union in need of about $20 million for the rebuilding process.
Page emphasized that the importance of Union lies not in its physical campus, but in its calling and mission.
"The greatest thing that's going to happen is not rebuilding buildings," Page said. "Union University is not bricks and mortar. They need bricks and mortar to do what they've been called to do. But this institution is about training young men and women and equipping them for service in many, many different callings and venues. So this institution is going to thrive because they're true to the calling. The bricks and mortar, that's not the primary part of who this institution is."
Page pointed out that Union, established in 1823, is the oldest college affiliated with a Southern Baptist state convention. He also noted that Union sends out more people to the international mission field than any other college in Southern Baptist life.
"Because of that, we need to be of great assistance to them," Page said. "They have been a great partner with us all these years."
Page also emphasized that Union's financial needs are immediate. "This is not a long-term need, but a short-term need," he said.
Despite the extent of the damage, the SBC president expressed hope and optimism for the future of the university.
"We believe that God is going to do a great thing because of this," Page said. "We believe that God always brings good out of bad. We've seen it happen before and we're going to see it happen here.
"It's like any major disaster -– it brings out the very best in people. That's what's happening. It's bringing the best out of Union University."
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Tim Ellsworth is director of news and media relations at Union University.
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FIRST-PERSON: Moving beyond Feb. 5
by David S. Dockery
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
JACKSON, Tenn. (BP)--C.S. Lewis in "The Problem of Pain" says that God often uses the experiences of suffering as a megaphone to awaken us. Suffering and pain, Lewis said, are often the essential means by which God brings about dependence, fortitude, patience and forgiveness in His children, while also arousing acts of mercy and compassion.
As I have reflected on the events of Feb. 5 on the Union University campus and the challenging days since that time, I have been helped greatly by the thoughts of Lewis in this regard.
Certainly we have seen thousands of acts of mercy and compassion from people who have responded to the massive needs associated with Union University. These acts of mercy and compassion have come from people near to the university, from people on the political left and the ideological right, from people on both sides of theological and denominational divides, and amazingly from people far away who hardly know anything about Union University.
Somehow the disastrous effect of the Feb. 5 tornado has touched the hearts of these many, many people to help us at this time. Nearly 4,000 volunteers have given their time and service. Nearly 2,000 people have given financial gifts to help meet the incredible needs across our campus. Even more have prayed and offered their encouragement, kindness and support.
Truly the painful aftermath of the storm has, as Lewis so insightfully observed, aroused multiple acts of mercy and compassion across the Baptist family and beyond and we want to again and again express our deep and heartfelt gratitude. The list grows rapidly and we are working hard to stay current with our expressions of gratitude, but we today across the Union University campus stand amazed at the untold number of meaningful acts of mercy and compassion that have been shown to us. We today are a thankful people.
We particularly are grateful to congregations and entities across the Southern Baptist Convention who have responded so generously to our challenges. President Frank Page has asked every SBC congregation and entity to take a special offering to support disaster relief efforts at Union. We are grateful for larger gifts from LifeWay, GuideStone, Tennessee Baptist Children's Homes, the Tennessee Baptist Convention's Executive Board, the SBC Executive Committee and Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. But we are also grateful for the many sacrificial gifts from students attending our seminaries and colleges. We do pray that every congregation at this time will prayerfully consider President Page's appeal. Larger churches like Bellevue, Faith (Bartlett, Tenn.), FBC Naples, Prestonwood and others have given significant gifts, for which we are most grateful. We are, however, especially grateful for amazing gifts like those from Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Bradford, Tenn. While the amount of the gift from Mt. Pleasant does not match the gifts from larger churches, in God's economy it is no doubt very special, for it represents 3 percent of the church's annual budget. For every gift, large or small, we are so very grateful.
Now we pray that God will work in our lives to bring about the other virtues described by Lewis. We trust that in the uncertain days ahead that patience would be manifested among us in all of our relationships. We hope that God will help us become a forgiving community, offering forgiveness to those who have wronged us and more importantly seeking forgiveness from others when we have been the ones in the wrong. We pray for fortitude and courage to face the challenges that now are ours. The rebuilding project in front of us will be challenging and lengthy. Moving forward will not be easy, but with God's help we will take the next step and the next step toward the prospects of a better and stronger Union University. In this regard we invite the faithful prayers of God's people for the major rebuilding project in front of us.
Most of all we pray for an urgent sense of our own complete and total dependence on God for all aspects of life. No doubt the haunting and perplexing questions that remain in our hearts and minds will linger. God may at times like these seem distant for some. When that happens what should we do? Assume that God is not here among us? Assume that He is here, but that He does not love or care for us? Assume that He is here, but He is unable to help? I don't think so at all. I believe that we all can learn to trust the providence of God anew, even when we have unanswered questions, and we can find rest in the words of the hymn writer, "Great is thy Faithfulness, O God my Father, there is no shadow of turning with thee. Thou changest not, they compassions they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever wilt be. Great is They Faithfulness."
We are grateful indeed for the innumerable acts of mercy, service and compassion in behalf of Union University, especially from friends across the Southern Baptist Convention. We are grateful for the virtues and character qualities that will be strengthened in our lives as we respond to the challenges on this side of Feb. 5. Moreover, we pray for God to bring renewal out of the rubble across the campus as we trust afresh in God's amazing, mysterious, and gracious providence.
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David S. Dockery is president of Union University in Jackson, Tenn.
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Wilberforce documentary airing on PBS
by Michael Foust
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)--One year after the movie "Amazing Grace" reintroduced America to William Wilberforce, a new documentary about the famous Christian abolitionist seeks to shed more light on the British man whose fight against slavery inspired Abraham Lincoln and countless other people of faith throughout the world.
"The Better Hour: The Legacy of William Wilberforce" is airing on PBS stations nationally beginning this month and also is available on DVD. (A list of broadcast times is available at www.TheBetterHour.com. Click on "TV Info.") Funded by the John Templeton Foundation, the one-hour program details how Wilberforce, a member of Parliament, was driven by his faith to fight great odds for 20 years to end the slave trade in the British empire, finally succeeding in 1807.
Although Americans are prone to remember Lincoln when the subject of slavery arises, the former president himself mentioned Wilberforce's name in speeches.
Last year's Amazing Grace film -- so named because of Wilberforce's friendship with John Newton, writer of the famous hymn -- surprised some movie observers by grossing $21 million domestically. It was released during the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the slave trade in Britain.
"It's been a nice one-two punch," The Better Hour spokeswoman Sheila Weber said of the film and documentary, "because they came out with the feature film that highlighted the larger story, but it's very satisfying for people when they see the documentary because it fills in a lot of the gaps and it gives more content and more commentary. We have interviews with leading historians and scholars. And it's very inspiring -- it's not a dry and dull documentary."
The documentary gets its name from a tribute to Wilberforce written by the poet William Cowper, who said Wilberforce's effort led to "the better hour" for Britain.
Wilberforce already was a member of Parliament when he became a Christian, and he struggled in deciding whether he should stay in the legislature or become a clergyman within the Church of England. But Newton, himself a former captain of a slave ship who later became an abolitionist, urged Wilberforce to remain a legislator. Wilberforce's oratorical skills were well-respected and even feared by other legislators.
"God may have a purpose for you in politics," Newton is said to have told Wilberforce, according to Wilberforce expert Kevin Belmonte, who appears in the documentary.
In 1787 Wilberforce wrote in his diary, "God Almighty has placed before me two great objects, the suppression of the slave trade and the reformation of manners [morals]."
The slave trade was an evil almost beyond description. Slaves were taken from the west coast of Africa on a two- to three-month voyage to the West Indies, where they were sold. Conditions for the slaves aboard the ships were atrocious: They were kept under the deck, chained side by side. According to the Wilberforce 2007 campaign, each man had a space roughly six feet long, 16 inches wide; each woman had a space two inches shorter and the same width. They often had to lie in feces and urine, and many died of disease during the journey. It is estimated more than 10 million Africans were put aboard the ships, with perhaps more than 2 million dying during the journey.
At the beginning of Wilberforce's effort around 1787, many members of Parliament argued that abolishing the slave trade would collapse the economy, and MPs used all sorts of tactics to kill the bill, including giving opera tickets to Wilberforce's MP supporters the day of a scheduled vote (a tactic that worked). But 20 years later, some of those same members of Parliament supported Wilberforce when his bill overwhelming passed, 283-16.
Christian leaders say Wilberforce should serve as an example of how faith should drive believers to change society for the better by, for instance, ridding the world both of abortion, and, once and for all, slavery, which still exists in some parts of the world. Wilberforce's faith plays a significant role in the documentary.
"I've known about him for 40 years, and he has been something of an inspiration to me," Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Commission, told Baptist Press.
Representatives with The Better Hour are encouraging churches and community groups to watch the documentary in small settings and discuss it afterward. A book, "Creating the Better Hour," is being released to coincide with the documentary. It has a foreword by Rick Warren and chapters written by such notables as Charles Colson. Additionally, The Better Hour is sponsoring a $10,000 contest for high school students. (Deadline is March 1.) Information is available at www.TheBetterHour.com.
"While [the documentary] will be satisfying to the faith community, it's also presented in a tone that will be really appropriate to show outside of the church," Weber said. "That's a good thing.... William Wilberforce is a wonderful icon of what it means to be a Christian."
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Michael Foust is assistant editor of Baptist Press. "The Better Hour" documentary contains no offensive language but does contain drawings depicting nude slaves.
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500 new churches is Liberty Univ. goal
by Mickey Noah
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
LYNCHBURG, Va. (BP)--Leaders at Liberty University have a vision to help plant some 500 new churches during the next five years, evidencing its commitment with a three-day church planting conference.
During chapel services attended by 5,000-plus Liberty students during the conference, several hundred made decisions to sign up for summer missionary and church planting internships across the United States.
Cosponsored and attended by representatives from 15 state Baptist conventions and the North American Mission Board, the Liberty conference aimed at recruiting students for real-life church planting opportunities this coming summer.
"Liberty wants to help students discover and examine their calling in this area of ministry," said David Wheeler, NAMB national missionary and associate director of Liberty's Church Planting Center, "and to gain a sense of the heartbeat and vision that Liberty has for church planting."
Wheeler said the conference will become an annual event at the Lynchburg, Va., campus.
Jonathan Falwell, Liberty's executive vice president for spiritual affairs, said, "Our time together was extremely productive as we discussed strategies for literally saturating our nation with new church plants.
"This is something my dad [the late Jerry Falwell] was passionate about and it's something that I'm passionate about as well. Over the next few months, we will begin implementing some of the ideas that were shared [during the conference]."
Speaking during a campus-wide convocation, Ergun Caner, president of Liberty's seminary and graduate school, shared his life-changing experience as a summer missionary in Wisconsin during his college days.
"Church planting should be the driving force and goal toward which every local church reaches," Caner said. "Church planting is essential to the furtherance of the Gospel because it is the local church to which God has given the mandate to carry forth the message of Jesus Christ.
"It only makes sense that the strategy for getting the Gospel to a lost and dying world would be through the local church reproducing itself," Caner said.
Steve Canter, a NAMB church planting consultant, said, "We at NAMB hope the long-term effect of this emphasis is that as students serve on summer mission projects in church plants, God will work in their lives and then, after graduation, they would serve as church planters or part of a church-planting team out in the state conventions."
Representatives of state Baptist conventions and other ministries spoke in Liberty classrooms and staffed 25 booths in Liberty's DeMoss Hall during the Jan. 30-Feb. 1 conference, enabling SBC representatives to recruit students and share information on church planting, summer missionary internships or missions trips.
State conventions participating were Maryland/Delaware, New England, Alaska, Illinois, Missouri, California, South Carolina, Penn/Jersey, Southern Baptist Conservatives of Virginia, Nevada, Minnesota/Wisconsin, North Carolina, Indiana, West Virginia and Northwest.
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Mickey Noah is a writer for the Southern Baptist North American Mission Board.
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Everett elected as BGCT executive
by Staff
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
DALLAS (BP)--Randel Everett, senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Newport News, Va., was elected executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas Feb. 26.
"I am excited about the future of Texas Baptists and how God is going to use Randel Everett to focus our resources and relationships on Kingdom work in Texas," said Ken Hugghins, chairman of the search committee that recommended Everett, according to a BGCT news release.
When Everett was nominated in late January, Hugghins said he "met the criteria of an executive director who could lead the convention in this crucial time in which Texas Baptists appear segmented and financial issues recently caused the convention to lay off 29 people."
Everett succeeds Charles Wade, who retired from the position Jan. 31.
Besides serving the Newport News congregation, which is affiliated with the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship and the Southern Baptist Convention, Everett is the former president of the John Leland Center for Theological Studies in Arlington, Va. He served as chairman of the Baptist World Alliance's education and evangelism commission from 2000-05.
He also was pastor of Columbia Baptist Church in Falls Church, Va.; First Baptist Church in Pensacola, Fla.; First Baptist Church in Benton, Ark., during which time he served as president of the Arkansas Baptist State Convention's executive board; and three Texas churches: University Baptist in Fort Worth, Inglewood Baptist in Grand Prairie and First Baptist in Gonzales. Everett served as a member of the BGCT executive board from 1978-79.
A native of Fort Worth, Everett holds a doctorate and a master's degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth and a bachelor's degree from Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas.
He and his wife, Sheila, have two grown children.
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Compiled by Baptist Press assistant editor Mark Kelly.
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Busting the top four food myths
by Tamara Quintana
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
DALLAS (BP)--Have you noticed how complicated food is these days? Trying to select an item in a grocery store or restaurant can prove to be quite a head-scratching experience, especially if you are trying to choose a healthier option.
The constant barrage of conflicting information concerning food and dieting often makes separating food fact from fiction a daunting task. As a result, people often find themselves making the less-healthy choice without realizing it. Here are a few myths people tend to believe:
1. It's OK to consume a larger amount of "fat free" foods.
Unfortunately, fat free does not mean it is also calorie free. In fact, fat-free or reduced-fat foods actually may have a similar calorie count to the "regular" version of the food, and sometimes even more calories.
2. If a food is “organic,” it must be healthier.
Not necessarily. The label “organic” means the product was grown using natural pesticides and insecticides, but doesn’t mean the item has any greater nutritional or dietary value than conventionally grown products. Similarly, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, there are very few nutritional differences between produce labeled "fresh" or "natural" and produce that is canned or frozen. The moment produce is harvested, it begins losing its vitamin content on the way to the supermarket. If food is frozen or even canned quickly after harvest, though, it can retain more nutritional value than fresh produce.
3. Margarine contains fewer calories than butter.
According to the American Dietetic Association, stick margarine and stick butter actually have the same number of calories, about 36 per teaspoon.
4. When in doubt, go with the salad.
This rule only applies if you’re not going to load the salad up with cheese, dressings and other condiments that are usually high in fat content. Too much dressing can turn your previously healthy salad into a higher calorie option than many other items on the menu.
Keep these myths -– and the truths behind them –- in mind the next time you find yourself staring down a long grocery aisle full of choices. Food can lose its enjoyment if you are constantly holding it up to the light of the latest food fad. So don’t worry about keeping up with all the diet trends and latest health studies. Eating moderately, combined with exercise, is still the best road to maintaining a healthy lifestyle.
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Tamara Quintana is a graduate of All Saints Episcopal Hospital School of Vocational Nursing and the director of the employee wellness program for GuideStone Financial Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention.
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Human rights faltering in Iran, USCIRF told
by Katherine Kipp
Date: February 27, 2008 - Wednesday
WASHINGTON (BP)--Basic human rights, including religious freedom, have deteriorated under Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, witnesses testified in a Capitol Hill hearing.
Iranian citizens have suffered "systematic oppression by the regime, ... denial to freedom of religion, expression, politics and basic human rights," said Jeffrey Feltman, a U.S. State Department official.
Feltman, principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs, and five other witnesses testified Feb. 21 before the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in a hearing on human rights in Iran.
The Iranian regime claims to be based on Shiite Islam and to treat non-Shiite Islam with complete respect, said Paul Marshall, senior fellow of the Hudson Institute. The Iranian constitution "gives formal recognition to Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity [and] Article 19 of the constitution accords legal rights to Iranians irrespective of ethnicity, color, or language, but notably excludes religion," he noted.
Yet "the Iranian government is one of the world's worst religious persecutors," Marshall said. Shiites who dissent from state orthodoxy are punished for thinking, and Sunni and Sufi Muslims are banned from teaching their religion. Followers of Baha'i, Iran's largest non-Muslim minority, are regarded as "unprotected infidels," because they are not mentioned in the Iranian constitution, he said.
Dissidents and political reformers continue to be imprisoned under Ahmadinejad, who was elected president in 2005, said USCIRF Chair Michael Cromartie.
"U.S. government-level discussions of U.S. policy on Iran focus overwhelmingly on the important nuclear question," Cromartie said. "As a consequence, it seems sometimes as if we hear very little about the precarious state of human rights, including religious freedom, in that country."
The State Department has classified Iran as a "country of particular concern" since it began issuing an annual report on international religious freedom in 1999. USCIRF continues to recommend the State Department retain Iran as a "country of particular concern," a category reserved for governments that have "engaged in or tolerated systemic and egregious violations of religious freedom."
"Repression has intensified following President Bush's [2002] designation of Iran as a member of an 'axis of evil,'" Barbara Slavin, senior diplomatic reporter for USA Today, told the commission. Bush's rejection of an Iranian offer for diplomatic talks in 2003 "embarrassed the reformist government of President Mohammad Khatami, which had cooperated with the United States in Afghanistan in 2001, in part in hopes that would lead to improved relations with Washington."
"While Iran's human rights record during the Khatami presidency was by no means spotless, the record under his successor has been far worse," said Slavin, who has met with Ahmadinejad several times. "Since Ahmadinejad became president in 2005, and especially in the past year, executions have increased, and so have arrests of students, women activists and labor organizers."
Ahmadinejad's "denials of the Holocaust and statements calling for Israel to be 'wiped off the map' have created a climate of fear among Iran's 30,000-member Jewish community," Cromartie said.
Iranian Jews are forbidden from visiting Israel or even traveling together as families, Marshall added.
Slavin, who has visited Iran as recently as 2006, gave suggestions on how to improve the Iranian regime.
"At this late date in the Bush presidency, it is difficult to see a way in which this administration might positively impact the human rights climate in Iran," Slavin said. "The next U.S. president should certainly continue to affirm support for democracy and human rights, but express confidence in the ability of Iranians to reform their government on their own.
"The most helpful thing the U.S. government and U.S. human rights groups can do is to publicize rights abuses in Iran but stop threatening to change the regime by force," she said.
Other helpful steps the U.S. administration could take include spending more money on scholarships for Iranians to study in the U.S. and for Americans to study in Iran, Slavin said. She also suggested the U.S. should allow its diplomats in Iran to process visas for Iranians seeking to travel to the U.S. and should accept direct flights between New York and Tehran.
"One starting point could be the extension of United Nations Security Council targeted sanctions against those involved in the nuclear industry to those implicated in serious human rights abuses," Akhavan told USCIRF. "Travel bans and asset freezes on human rights grounds could contribute to the isolation of elements responsible for international crimes and empower those discouraged by the air of invincibility created by headliners."
The hearing was designed to see what the United States could do to address deteriorating human rights conditions, Cromartie said. "The U.S. government, at the highest levels, should take every opportunity to call for the release of all religious prisoners in Iran."
USCIRF was established in 1998 to advise the White House and Congress on global religious freedom issues. The president selects three members of the nine-person panel, while congressional leaders name the other six. The State Department's ambassador at large for international religious freedom serves as a non-voting member of the panel.
Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, is a USCIRF vice chairman and is serving his sixth year on the panel.
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Katherine Kipp is an intern with the Washington bureau of Baptist Press.